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1500 questions
52
votes
2 answers
"noone", "no one" or "no-one"?
What is the correct form? Does context play a role?
Are there noticeable trends towards the awkward "noone" or is it just a by-product of careless orthography on the Internet?
Tomalak
- 2,187
52
votes
8 answers
What exactly is an "adverb"?
From comments to “Weekdays” used as an adverb", I learn that The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary says "open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.", shows the word weekdays is an adverb.
It seems to me that in "We open weekdays at 7 a.m.", and "We open…
FumbleFingers
- 140,184
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- 517
52
votes
10 answers
Is "rather" shifting to become a verb?
In colloquial English, I constantly run across sentences of the form:
I rather my [noun] [verb]
A quick Google search returns tons of examples:
I rather my opponents don't find out.
I rather my fans not read this.
I rather my teeth froze than…
RegDwigнt
- 97,231
52
votes
5 answers
A word for first name and middle name/s, but not last name
Is there a single word to denote both first name and middle name/s, but not the last name?
That is, when we speak about J.R.R. Tolkien, we may say that Tolkien is a surname, and John Ronald Reuel is [the requested word]
(John is a first name; Ronald…
user90726
- 555
52
votes
16 answers
What is it called when you raise a problem and someone else makes it seem like you're entitled by bringing up something far worse?
For example, you say "These working conditions are subpar. We don't get any breaks." and then someone else says "You're entitled. You know who has it bad? People that work in sweatshops!"
You raised a valid point, but now someone has completely…
Casper
- 481
52
votes
10 answers
Is there a word for someone with the same name?
If a person shares my name, in Dutch there is the word "naamgenoot", meaning roughly 'member of the same name'.
John A: Hi, my name is "John"
John B: O, then we're insert solution word here!
Similarly,
'classmate' is 'klasgenoot' in…
sehe
- 1,121
52
votes
4 answers
Why were Scottish & Irish names once rendered with apostrophes instead of "Mac" or "Mc"?
I have noticed in some Victorian and Edwardian texts that Scottish and Irish names beginning with "Mac" or "Mc" are usually written as "M" plus an apostrophe. An example I came across recently was from 1845, where a person was referred to as John…
Carfilhiot
- 623
52
votes
6 answers
What is "won't" a contraction of?
"Don't", "wouldn't", "couldn't" and "isn't" are all contractions of "do not", "would not", "could not" and "is not"... So what's "won't" a contraction of?
It appears to be "will not", but if so, why isn't it "willn't"? (And if there's no good…
Django Reinhardt
- 2,737
52
votes
9 answers
Meaning of the phrase "womp womp" in American English?
I'm British, I'd like some assistance understanding the meaning of the American idiom "womp womp" in this context:
PETKANAS: “I read today about a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was taken from her mother and put in a cage…”
LEWANDOWSKI:…
A E
- 6,612
52
votes
4 answers
"Real time", "real-time" or "realtime"
Which of real time, real-time and realtime is correct when you are talking about seeing something as it happens?
NIVLAC
- 521
52
votes
2 answers
What does "went through the guards of the broadsword" mean?
It was upon the evening of this memorable Sunday that Sir Everard entered the library, where he narrowly missed surprising our young hero as he went through the guards of the broadsword with the ancient weapon of old Sir Hildebrand, which, being…
Furius A.
- 598
52
votes
9 answers
Why is there no plural indefinite article?
The takes either a singular or a plural subject. A/an only takes the singular.
When we pluralize a noun preceded by an indefinite article, we simply drop the article (sometimes replacing it with some). Why is this?
3 years later:
Whilst on a…
Daniel
- 57,547
52
votes
6 answers
What is the difference between "thee" and "thou"?
What is the difference between thee and thou and how are they used?
keithjgrant
- 3,404
52
votes
17 answers
English equivalent for the Persian proverb "The mountain just gave birth to a mouse"
I'm looking for an idiom or expression to describe a well-known person/ organization/ politician/ government whose achievements in a given situation are smaller than what they had claimed or promised to be.
We Iranians have a proverb that literally…
Soudabeh
- 9,217
52
votes
17 answers
Is "act like a mensch" too localized for ELU readers (U.S. and/or British English)?
This question was motivated by an interesting comment that was made at https://academia.stackexchange.com/posts/comments/123681?noredirect=1
Part of Answer: I don't think that particular research team would be a healthy place
for you. The guy…
aparente001
- 21,530